New York: A lucky loft for actors

If Ben Kingsley wins an Oscar questions might have to be asked. Not that anyone will begrudge Kingsley an award for his portrayal of an exiled Iranian colonel in House of Sand and Fog.

It's just that for the past three years, the Oscar for Best Actor has gone to a recent occupant of the same room in the same trendy New York hotel. And that's some coincidence.

The hotel in question is Sixty Thompson and the room is No 120, the Thompson Loft, a sumptuous duplex penthouse.

Russell Crowe slept beneath its cool Frette sheets in 2001, just before he won an Oscar for Gladiator; the following year, Denzel Washington checked in and shortly after won for Training Day; then last year, Adrian Brody stayed and, against all odds, won for The Pianist. Kingsley not only stayed in the Loft recently, but held his Iranian-themed wedding reception in the hotel's bar. So he should be in with a chance this evening.

Sixty Thompson is no stranger to celebrity. When I arrived at midnight to check in, Kirsten Dunst and Gwen Stefani were padding through the lobby. And they weren't alone. The hotel bar, whose occupants were spilling over into the lobby, was filled with beautiful people ensconced in the deep leather chairs or leaning against the polished plaster walls. Barmen stirred martinis while the DJ at his booth in front of a roaring fireplace mixed OutKast with Level 42.

Sixty Thompson is stunningly contemporary - the interior design and furniture are by Thomas O'Brien and Aero Studios while staff uniforms are by Nino Cerruti - but this is not just another self-conscious triumph of modern style over content. As the hotel's general manager, Stephen Brandman, explains, "Sixty is not about the oversized red lampshades - we're about service." Brandman poached his team from the Intercontinental, and they have collaborated for most of their working lives. The idea, says Brandman, was clear: to bring an old-fashioned service ethic to a hip hotel.

And it works: while endearingly casual, the service is warm and attentive. And unlike so many of NY's cool hangouts, the staff don't try to intimidate you. The hostesses in the bar whirl around in black cocktail dresses but always have time to hang out and chat. Cassie and I managed to take in Nafta and the IRA hunger strikes over my order and it was equally hard to fault the barman who refused to let me pay for the Guinness because it was warm.

Later, as I collapsed into my bed, my vision wasn't too blurred to notice that, unlike most of Manhattan's hippest hotels, there was no mistaking my room for a broom cupboard. But neither did it offer the proportions of the penthouse Loft, which has double-height ceilings, a four-poster bed, two private roof terraces that connect to the hotel's rooftop bar - or will do when the weather is warmer; it is currently being refitted - and a 360-degree view of Manhattan.

My room wasn't costing me £1,850 a night either - then again, I was not hoping to win an Oscar.

Virgin Atlantic (01293 747747; www.virgin-atlantic.com) has flights to New York from £197 or from £1,823.70 in Upper Class. Sixty Thompson, 60 Thompson Street, New York (001 877 431 0400; www.60thompson.com) has doubles from £185; the Thompson Loft costs £1,850 a night.

Not surprisingly, the Park Hyatt, which occupies the top 14 floors of the 52-storey Shinjuku Park Tower, is now offering several Lost in Translation packages. The one-night version costs £271, based on two sharing a double room, and includes a complimentary cocktail in the New York Bar and a map of the other sights featured in the film; the five-night version costs £1,879 and includes an introduction to Japanese culture and etiquette (something Bill Murray's character could have done with), cocktails in the New York Bar, a Japanese meal, a city bus tour, a map of the sites featured in the film, and a Shiatsu massage.

The question is, will cinema-goers really be clamouring to stay in a hotel that is located in one of the most vibrant capital cities in the world and yet, in the movie at least, appears hermetically sealed?